Date of Award

2023

Degree Name

Master of Philosophy (School of Arts and Sciences)

First Supervisor

Martin Drum

Second Supervisor

Shane Burke

Third Supervisor

Mark Sidel

Abstract

Western Australia was the last of the Australian self-governing British colonies to agree to join the Australian Federation in 1900 and voted to secede, by a significant electoral margin, in a referendum held in 1933. Some have even argued the State has been a reluctant member of the Federation since this momentous vote. If this is the case, what evidence is there that can justify this perception, and possibly point to enduring underlying factors supporting this Western Australian regionalism sentiment and identity? Many of the drivers which led to the successful secession referendum in 1933 still exist today. The State is, and always has been, separated from the larger population centres on the east coast by a vast, mostly uninhabited sea of desert.

Almost a century after the State voted to secede from the Federation, the rhetoric used by the Premier and the mainstream media during the Covid-19 Pandemic hard border with the Eastern States, indicates scepticism of Western Australia’s place within the Federation is alive and well amongst the State’s political elite. Further, the remarkable result of the 2021 State election is evidence that this regionalism rhetoric resonated with a large majority of the Western Australian electorate. This thesis aims to analyse this rhetoric as a window to identify the drivers of Western Australian regionalism. It is hoped this research will lead to a more nuanced understanding of why Australia’s western third repeatedly sees itself an outlier in the Australian Federation. Federations are stronger when each of their constituent parts are clearly understood.

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